Kinamatisang Dilis

This Kinamatisang Dilis recipe or “Tomato Stewed Small Anchovies” is not only delicious but absolutely affordable and filling. To make this dish, all you need are a good amount of dilis sautéed till crispy, then take this out to make the aromatic savory sauce made of ginger, onion, tomatoes, black pepper, oyster sauce, sugar, with some red and green chillies. Add back the cooked dilis and stir everything well. Swerve with a good amount of white rice on the side.

Kinamatisang Dilis Recipe :

Ingredients

• 2 cups dilis
• Ginger ( sliced )
• 1 large onion ( sliced )
• 6 pieces tomatoes ( roughly sliced )
• Black pepper to taste
• 2 tablespoon oyster sauce
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• Red and green chilies ( chopped )
• Oil frying

Steps:

1. In a pan, heat some oil and cook the dilis till light brown and crisp. Set aside.
2. Heat some more oil in the same pan. Cook ginger before adding the onion and sauteing this till translucent. Add in the tomatoes and saute for a few minutes until soft.
3. Mix in black pepper, oyster sauce, and sugar. Then add in the red and green chillies. After giving this a good stir, add back the fried dilis. Mix and cook for a few seconds before serving.

What is Dilis ?

Dilis or “Little Anchovies” are tiny fishes that are commonly seen in Filipino cuisine. These small fishes can grow as long as 1 to 15 inches and have around 144 species all over the world. Being an abundant fish you can find in Philippine waters. These can also be found in the Mediterranean Sea, specifically parts like the Middle East, Europe, and North Africa. In the Philippines, you can find them prepared for breakfast, lunch, dinner, as an afternoon sweet and salty snack, as a side dish, you can even see this usually paired with an iced cold beer aka a “pulutan”. While the traditional or more ‘Filipino way of enjoying these are being salted then fried, dried then fried, or deboned and cleaned then ‘cooked’ with citrus or vinegar like ceviche or in Tagalog is called “kinilaw”, the more modern version include being cooked or baked, added in salads, in stewed (especially coconut-stew or ginataang dishes), as sauces, candied, added in omelets, and many more.

A humble delicacy, you can find out more details in this Yummy Kitchen article : “What are Dilis?”.

How to make this Kinamatisang Dilis Recipe

Looking for a low budget “ulam” or main dish but still want something appetizingly delicious to eat? Then this is the dish for you! All you need is one pan and just a few ingredients; namely the dilis which needs to be fried with a bit of oil. Then cook this till it looks nicely brown and crispy. Set this aside while you make the sauce with a bit more oil to cook the sliced ginger, then the onions as the base aromatics. Add in tomatoes for the coloring and savory taste, sautéed till soft. The tomatoes should be soft enough to crush to make sure the flavors have been released. After adding in the other seasonings like black pepper, oyster sauce to make it even more savory and umami, adding in sugar for a bit of sweetness. To make it slightly spicy give this recipe a stir with some chopped red and green chillies, if you want it spicier add in more red chillies, green chillies has a slightly sweetener taste with a hot take. Add back the fried dilis and give everything a good stir to make sure all the flavors are blended together. Serve with some white rice or garlic fried rice on the side.

Other Yummy Dilis Recipes!

• Use fresh dilis for “Kinilaw na Dilis” ( a Filipino fish ceviche) .
• Top this over “Ginisang Monggo with Dried Alamang” ( sauteed mung beans with dried shrimp paste )
• Or add into “Chorizo Fried Rice” for a bit of Filipino flair.
• You can also add this into “Ginataang Puso ng Saging” ( a coconut stewed dish with banana blossoms)
• Use this instead of Tuyo ( dried fish ) to make “Tuyo Pasta”.

Kinamatisang Dilis Resipi: (Tagalog version)

Mga Sangkap :

• 2 tasa ng dilis
• Luya ( hiniwa )
• 1 malaking sibuyas ( hiniwa )
• 6 piraso kamatis ( hiniwa )
• Paminta panlasa
• 2 kutsarang oyster sauce
• 1 kutsarang asukal
• Pula at Berdeng sili ( hiniwa ng maliliit )
• Mantika pangprito

Paano Lutuin :

1. Sa kawali, maginit ng mantika at lutuin ang mga dilis hanggang mag kayumanggi at maging krsipy. Itabi.
2. Maginit muli ng konting mantika. Lutuin ng luya bago isama ang mga sibuyas at lutuin ang mga ito hanggang mag-translucent. Ihalo ang kamatis at lutuin hanggang lumambot.
3. Haluan ng paminta, oyster sauce, at asukal. Pagkatapos haluin ito ng pula at berdeng asukal. Ibalik ang dilis at lutuin ng ilang segundo baho ihanda.